Don’t be afraid to make friends with smart people!
With 18% of the US population, Latinos contribute to 82% of US labor force growth since the financial crisis, according to the Latino Donor Collective’s GDP Report in the US, prepared by the Researcher at the California Lutheran University Center for Economic Forecasting & Research and the UCLA Center for Latino Health & Cultural Studies.
‘Five Compadres’ – Toyota Tier 1 suppliers in San Antonio, Texas, USA
Frank Herrera, CEO of Hero Logistics | Provide in-house logistics services.
Berto Guerra Jr., president and chief executive officer of Avanzar Interior Technologies | Manufacture of car seats.
Rosa Santana, owner and CEO of Forma Automotive, her company is Toyota’s first Hispanic woman-owned direct Tier 1 supplier | Supply of fully assembled chassis for Tacoma trucks.
Fernando Reyes, founder of Reyes Automotive Group | Manufacture of injection molds and mats for pickup trucks.
Max Navarro, founder and president of Vutex | Assemble spare parts for shipment to the assembly line.
‘Five Compadres’ – Toyota Tier 1 suppliers in San Antonio, Texas, USA
This powerful group of 5 CEOs includes an attorney, a STEM specialist, an HR specialist and two multi-talented entrepreneurs, all of whom are established Latin business leaders from different industries. .
And even though the five of them had no experience in auto manufacturing, Toyota reached out and let them become the company’s first Latina manufacturers, who specialized in supplying the company directly without any car manufacturers. middlemen – aka Tier 1 providers.
In a conversation with CNBC columnist Invest in You: Ready. Set. Grow, Frank Herrera, Berto Guerra, Rosa Santana, 3 of the 5 pillars of ‘Five Compadres’ have the most practical advice for young entrepreneurs on the road to success.
Max Navarro: No experience? No problem at all!
Jumping into manufacturing is no easy feat.
“A lot of us have business backgrounds,” said CEO Navarro, founder and president of Vutex, the first Hispanic-owned scientific research company based in San Antonio. business, but neither of us knew how to build a truck, but we all came together to come up with some sort of common denominator to help each other grow.”
Mr. Navarro said that lack of experience often leads to self-doubt, thinking that he “can’t do it”, but for him, lack of experience is not an issue.
Toyota’s plant in Texas, with the help of the companies of its “Five Compadres” associates, now produces more than 200,000 pickup trucks annually.
“We finally answered that $64,000 question, ‘Can people build trucks in San Antonio?’,” CEO Navarro said.
“I’m sure the question has been answered: Yes!”
Berto Guerra Jr: Make friends with people smarter than you
Initially, Compadres was combined with seasoned Toyota Tier 1 suppliers to form the joint venture. They traveled across the United States and Japan to learn about business practices, supplier processes, and the “Toyota Way”.
“One piece of advice my dad always gave me was, ‘Don’t be afraid to associate with people smarter than you,’” said Guerra, president and CEO of Avanzar Interior Technologies.
CEO Guerra grew up in San Antonio with his family in a small room behind his father’s barbershop. The first job his father gave him – greeting customers as they entered and offering them to shine their shoes in exchange for a few cents.
Humility is a lesson Guerra learned at an early age.
Mr. Guerra said: “There’s no shame in admitting when you need help. Especially when the help of others drives your long-term success.”
Rosa Santana: Believe in yourself and uplift others
The original Compadre 4 team became 5 in 2014 when Rosa Santana, joined the team a decade after the Texas factory opened. She joins the team with over three decades of experience in the HR industry, even providing HR services to her now-colleague associates.
“I think that all of the associates on ‘Five Compadres’ come from communities that have not received enough attention and somehow someone has,” said Santana, CEO of Forma Automotive. give us a chance.”
“Sometimes I think Latinos, especially Latino women, think we can’t do well or we can’t be leaders, we have to do everything to empower ourselves and empower ourselves. rights for her fellow citizens,” she said.
at Blogtuan.info – Source: cafebiz.vn – Read the original article here
